Is the Bible the Only Word of God?
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Glory to Jesus Christ! Glory forever!
In St. Paul's Letter to the Hebrews, ch. 4, verse 12, we read: "For the Word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and is able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart." In how many sermons have you heard that this refers to the Bible? Over and over again, we hear preachers in church and over the radio expounding on "the Word of God" as the Bible. it has become so frequent that we've grown accustomed to equating the Bible with the Word of God, and that only the Bible is the Word of God.
But let's look at the next two verses in Hebrews ch. 4: "There is no creature that is hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and laid open before the eyes of Him with Whom we have to do. Having then a Great High Priest, Who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold tightly to our confession."
Here it becomes quite obvious that St. Paul isn't writing about the Bible: the pronouns "His" and "Him" refer to the most-recently mentioned noun, "the Word of God" - that's how pronouns work, folks. The Living Word of God is a "He", not an "it." And to make it even clearer, St. Paul wrote that He is "Jesus, the Son of God", the subject of this chapter and previous chapters, Jesus, Who is our Great High Priest, greater than Melchizedek and greater even than Moses.
In another place, St. Paul wrote: "take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God" (Ephesians 6:17). I can't tell you how many times I've heard that Paul is telling us to take the Bible and use it as a sword to cut down other people's arguments against faith in Christ. But is that really what he had in mind? Notice that Paul refers to the Word of God as being like a sword, both here and in Hebrews ch. 4. Where else do we see this sword? Look at Revelation 19:11-15a -
"I saw the heaven opened, and behold, a white horse, and He who sat on it is called Faithful and True. In righteousness He judges and makes war. His eyes are a flame of fire, and on His head are many crowns. He has names written and a name written which no one knows but He Himself. He is clothed in a garment sprinkled with blood. His name is called "the Word of God." The armies which are in heaven followed Him on white horses, clothed in white, pure, fine linen. Out of His mouth proceeds a sharp, two-edged sword, that with it He should strike the nations."
This equates the "the Word of God" with the "sharp, two-edged sword" coming out of His mouth (that's where words come from). This is none other than the One Whose name is written on His garment and on His thigh: "KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS" (verse 16) - the conquering Christ Himself!
Now let us look at a couple of other passages in Revelation. First, ch. 20, v. 4: "I saw thrones, and they sat on them, and judgment was given to them. I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for the testimony of Jesus, and for the Word of God." Here "the Word of God" is a parallelism, a repetition for the sake of emphasis to clarify "the testimony of Jesus." We see the same thing in Revelation 1:1-2 -
"This is the Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show to his servants the things which must happen soon, which he sent and made known by his angel to his servant, John, who testified to the Word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, about everything that he saw."
Again, John's testifying about "the Word of God" is repeated by "the testimony of Jesus Christ": Jesus Christ is the Word of God, another parallelism. The Bible is only the Word of God insofar as it testifies to the Living Word of God, Jesus Christ. We don't worship the Bible, we worship Jesus Christ. He, not the Bible, should have the first place in our creeds and statements of faith.
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The same person, the Apostle John, wrote in the preface of his Gospel: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him. Without Him was not anything made that has been made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men" (John 1:1-4). Jesus Christ is the "Logos", the "logic" of the universe, the "meaning" of life. Further in this chapter, in v. 14, we read - "The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw His glory, such glory as of the one and only Son of the Father, full of grace and truth."
Before Jesus was born, before the Word became flesh, both the Jews and the Greeks understood that "Wisdom" in the Old Testament was identical to the "Logos" of Greek philosophy: "Does not Wisdom cry out? Does not understanding raise her voice?" (Proverbs 8:1). The wise king Solomon continues:
"I [Wisdom] was set up from everlasting, from the beginning, before the earth existed. When there were no depths, I was brought forth, when there were no springs abounding with water. Before the mountains were settled in place, before the hills, I was brought forth; while as yet He had not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the beginning of the dust of the world. When He established the heavens, I was there; when He set a circle on the surface of the deep, when He established the clouds above, when the springs of the deep became strong, when He gave to the sea its boundary, that the waters should not violate His commandment, when He marked out the foundations of the earth; then I was the craftsman by His side. I was a delight day by day, always rejoicing before Him, rejoicing in his whole world. My delight was with the sons of men" (verses 23-31).
So both Jews and Greeks understood that "Wisdom" or the "Logos" was that part of God's being which gave expression in the material universe to His creative plan. But they didn't know exactly how this would be worked out. But when "The Word became flesh, and lived among us. We saw His glory" - then the lights went on! Now we see! Now we understand Who they were trying to tell us about! Of course, the Apostle Peter also knew Who was and is the Word of God. But Peter warned us:
"You should remember the words which were spoken before by the holy prophets, and the commandments of us, the apostles of the Lord and Savior: knowing this first, that in the last days mockers will come, walking after their own lusts, and saying, 'Where is the promise of His coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.' For this they willfully forget, that there were heavens from of old, and an earth formed out of water and amid water, by the Word of God; by which means the world that then was, being overflowed with water, perished. But the heavens that now are, and the earth, by the same Word have been stored up for fire, being reserved against the Day of Judgment and destruction of ungodly men" (2 Peter 3:2-7).
The same people who mock religion in general and especially mock those Christians who believe in divine creation, in Christ's second coming and a final Judgment Day, those people believe in "Climate Change" - rising temperatures that will destroy life on earth before our children or grandchildren are grown up. Perhaps - just maybe - they need to repent, change their ways, and turn to the "Logos", the "logic" of the universe, the "meaning" of life, before the heavens and the earth meet their end in fire.
In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit! Christ is among us! He is and ever shall be!
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"For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control. Therefore do not be ashamed of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me His prisoner; but endure hardship for the Gospel according to the power of God, Who saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given to us in Christ Jesus before times eternal" (2 Tim.1:7-9).